Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – With mechanical means forming or expanding pores
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-18
2003-04-15
Silbaugh, Jan H. (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
With mechanical means forming or expanding pores
C425S81700C, C249S141000, C249S127000, C249S149000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06547547
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved apparatus and method of molding a composite foam molding element having a top side member and a back side member integrated with each other via a foam member and a novel composite foam molding element obtained by the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method of manufacturing a composite foam molding element having a top side member and a back side member integrated with each other via a foam member, there is adopted a method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 4-344227 and 6-210753.
A general description of a molding apparatus used by this method will be given with reference to FIG.
8
. First, a space
16
for molding a foam member is formed between a bottom face of an upper die
11
and a top face of a lower die
15
. Then, the top face of the lower die
15
is formed of an air ventilation porous member
18
. A skin
17
attached to the surface is pressure-reduced from a lower discharge space
19
, whereby the skin can be adsorbed by and fixed to the top face of the lower die
15
. In addition, the inside of the upper die
11
is divided into a left steam chamber
11
a
comprising a left steam pipe
11
c
and a right steam chamber
11
b
comprising a right steam pipe
11
d.
A ventilation hole
12
a
and a raw material bead supply pipe
13
a
are disposed at the bottom face of the left steam chamber
11
a.
Similarly, a ventilation hole
12
b
and a raw material bead supply pipe
13
b
are disposed at the lower face of the right steam chamber
11
b.
In a molding method using such apparatus, the skin
17
is disposed while the skin is adsorbed by a ventilation porous member
18
. Next, base material
14
is disposed at the lower face of the upper die
11
to ensure the upper and lower dies are closed, and a space
16
for forming a foam member is provided. In this case, at the base material
14
, there are provided through holes
14
a
14
d,
14
a
and
14
b
that correspond to the ventilation holes
12
a
and
12
b
and openings of the raw material bead supply pipe
13
a
and
13
b,
respectively. Here, raw material beads are charged in the space
16
through the raw material bead supply pipes
13
a
and
13
b
while charging air is supplied. In this case, however, the steam chambers
11
a
and
11
b
maintain pressure reduction without supplying a steam, and discharge the air in the space
16
through the ventilation holes
12
a
and
12
b.
In this way, the charging air supplied together with raw material beads is forcibly discharged, and only the raw material beads can be left and charged in the space
16
.
However, in this molding apparatus,
12
a
and
12
b
are operated to pressure reduction at the same time. Thus, raw material beads are hardly charged at the periphery in the space
16
. Moreover, in the case where the thickness of this space
16
is small, and an area is large, in particular, partial occlusion occurs during charging, and the raw material beads hardly reach a portion distant from the through holes
14
a
and
14
b
of the raw material bead supply pipes
13
a
and
13
b.
As a result, non-uniform charging unavoidably occurs.
In addition, as the molding method using this apparatus, there has been adopted a heating method in which heating steams are supplied sequentially from the left steam pipe
11
c
of the upper die
11
to the left steam chamber
11
a,
and then, to the steam hole
12
a,
and the charged raw material beads are heated, and then, is sequentially supplied from the ventilation hole
12
b
to the right steam chamber
11
b,
and then, to the right steam pipe
11
d,
and is discharged. However, in such heating method, there occurs a tendency that the flow of the heating steam in the space
16
short-passes between the closest ventilation holes
12
a
and
12
b.
Thus, in a case shown in
FIG. 8
, although fusion advances at the center portion, there occurs a deviation that fusion is delayed at a portion close to the right and left ends. As a result, there has been a serious problem that non-uniform quality in gravity, appearance, and strength of products occurs.
In addition, when a skin, base material, and a foam member are discussed from the aspect of material, for example, in a conventional combination used in a dashboard of an automobile, vinyl chloride, polypropylene, and urethane are used for the skin, back side member, and foam member, respectively, and the top and back materials are integrated in contact with each other. In recent years, there has been a growing need for causing each part of the skin, base material, and foam member to be formed of a material with the same components, making it possible to ensure recycling. From this point of view, technological development in which an olefin based elastomer (TPO) is extensively used for a skin, and an olefin based polypropylene foam (ERP) is extensively used for a foam member becomes an important task. The foregoing documents describe that a polypropylene based or polyethylene based sheet, a filler-containing solid resin, a foam resin bead or the like is used as an olefin based resin material for skin
17
, base material
14
, and foam member. However, with this method as well, it has been extremely difficult to uniformly manufacture a thin, composite foam molding element in different elongated shape having its comparatively small thickness, large area, and irregularities and curves, as is the case with a drain pan member of an air conditioner or a dashboard of an automobile, for example.
Further, in the conventional method, ventilation holes
12
a
and
12
b
for pressure reducing or steam supply are disposed with intervals of 25 mm to 50 mm, and correspondingly, through holes
14
c
and
14
d
are provided at the base material
14
. Thus, there has been problems with higher die processing and assembling costs and lower strength of a composite foam molding element caused by the lowered strength of the base material
14
.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a molding apparatus and method for improving the uniformity of raw material beads charged in a cavity for molding a foam member in molding technique for integrating the top and back side members with each other via a foam member and molding these members, and improving the uniformity of heating and fusion of these charged raw material beads, the molding apparatus and method capable of manufacturing a thin, composite molding element in different elongated shape having its comparatively small thickness, large area, and irregularities and curves that has been hardly manufactured in the conventional techniques.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in order to solve the foregoing problem. According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus of molding a composite foam molding element for integrating a top side member and a back side member with each other via a foam member and molding these members, the apparatus comprising: providing one of a pair of dies accompanying a top side member, capable of die closing and opening to form a cavity for foam molding; providing the other die so as to accompany a back side member; arranging a charger for supplying raw material beads made of a foam resin at a die at the side of the back side member; disposing a plurality of work piece nozzles whose openings are opened at the cavity; and dividing these work piece nozzles into a plurality of groups, each of which being connected to a work piece supply device.
In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of molding a composite foam molding element comprising: attaching a top side member to one die side of a cavity between a pair of dies capable of die closing and opening to form a cavity for foam molding and a back side member to the other die side; providing a charging space between these top and back side members; then supplying raw material beads made of a foam resin to this charging space; and at the same time,
Ida Kiyotaka
Nohara Iwao
Yoshimura Shigeki
Daisen Industry Co., Ltd.
Del Sole Joseph S
Parkhurst & Wendel L.L.P.
Silbaugh Jan H.
LandOfFree
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